


Swan Lake

by AndyCanWrite



Category: Original Work, Лебединое озеро - Чайковский | Swan Lake - Tchaikovsky
Genre: Betrayal, Boys In Love, Gay, Gay Male Character, Genderbending, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Magic, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-19
Updated: 2020-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:48:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23216500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AndyCanWrite/pseuds/AndyCanWrite
Summary: Odet, a swan turned prince come midnight meets Prince Siegfried, a prince who is to be married to a princess by the month's end. Only a vow of true love can break Odet's curse. But what will happen when the meddling Sorceress Von Rothbart refuses to let her path to royalty be destroyed?
Relationships: Odette/Prints Siegfried | Prince Siegfried
Kudos: 2





	Swan Lake

**Author's Note:**

> This is my debut piece of this new Ao3 account. Please enjoy and feel free to subscribe to notified when I post a new work!

“And a happy birthday to my dearest Siegfried!” she exclaimed, raising her glass of mead.

“Mother, I think you've had-"

“Don't presume to interrupt me,” she snapped. “This is a celebration, is it not?"

I closed my eyes and raised my glass of wine.

My tutor glanced at his empty glass and poured himself a new one. I tipped the bottle away from the glass as he got closer to the top.

“Wolfgang, you're a hopeless drunk,” I said under my breath before I sipped from my glass.

He did the same but he spilled on his lap.

“My God, Wolfgang, how much have you had?” I asked.

“Not nearly enough,” he replied, taking the longest sip of wine I'd ever seen a man take.

I looked across the dining hall at the four maidens my mother had rallied, who were all accompanied by their mothers. I was to select one of them to marry by the time morning came.

“For once, I could not agree more,” I told him.

They all presented me with tokens from their kingdom; gold, jewels, fine wine, and a canary the maiden had reared herself.

My mother had even given me a gift herself, a crossbow, sanded to absolute smoothness.

“How do you find it?” she asked.

“It's exquisite,” I replied, running my finger along the limbs.

She nodded in satisfaction.

We drank, danced, drank some more, and listened to the merry band that was playing.

The mothers of the four maidens eyed me from across the ballroom, trying to see if I would ask their daughters to dance. My mother, too, was anxiously waiting for me to move from my chair to dance with one of them.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Wolfgang in his drunken stupor, walking up to the head of the table where my mother was sitting.

I sat back in my chair with a smirk, eager to see how it went down. And then I saw my mother take his hand and follow him to the dance floor. My mouth agape, I watched as the two of them performed an extremely uncoordinated yet strangely captivating waltz.

The party I'd invited retired to my room where I had to order my servants not to bring Wolfgang any more wine, no matter how much he begged for it.

“Well, we may as well retire to our quarters…” my long-time acquaintance, Benno von Sommerstern said, eyeing Wolfgang. “Though I'm not sure dear Wolfgang could make it there in his state.”

“I'll see to it that he finds somewhere to lodge for the night,” I replied, standing up from my double Windsor chair and opening the door for Benno. “My sincerest thank you for making an appearance.”

“Don't kid yourself, Siegfried,” he said. “Mother would be furious if I hadn't. Both yours and mine.”

“Nonetheless,” I retorted before he could walk out of the room.

I walked back inside my room and ran my hand along the crossbow and heard it call to me.

I heard a knock at the door and one of the maids walked in.

“Sire Sommerstern told me that your tutor needed some assistance,” she said.

I turned my head to look at him, not lucid, and barely awake.

“I think he should be fine, stupor willing,” I replied.

“My apologies,” she bowed her head in reverence.

“Could you inform my mother that I'm going out?” I asked.

“Certainly. Shall I fetch your fur?”

I shook my head.

“I'll be alright,” I replied. “Find yourself some sleep."

“Yes, sire. I'll inform your mother of your leave right away,” she told me.

Once she left, I slipped on my sheepskin overcoat and checked on Wolfgang to make sure he wasn't too incapacitated to be left alone and I grabbed my crossbow and made my way towards the stables, pulling my stallion, Gesund, from his stall.

I fastened his saddle and attached a saddle bag to collect any game I managed to successfully hunt.

Gesund and I barrelled towards the woods behind our castle, kicking up dust and small clumps of grass.

We came upon a pond that seemed like home to a great many swans. Due to my clumsy dismounting of the saddle, I decided to discard my crossbow to the side and let Gesund drink from it.

I collapsed backward onto the bed of grass, the dew soaking ever so slightly through my shirt. It was rare that I got to escape the castle and rarer that I got to spend that time lying around.  
Suddenly, I heard a twig snap behind me and I turned around to grab my crossbow, aiming it towards the origin of the sound.

“Don't shoot!"

I dropped my crossbow and at what- or who, rather stood in front of me.

He was a young man about my age with pale skin, green eyes, and long, orange hair that was braided down his back. In his hair was a hairpiece of white feathers and gleaming pearls, and around his waist was a white sheet of fabric, pinned in place at his hip.

“Who are you?” he asked, his head tilting as he tried to recognize my face.

“You tell me, my family owns this land,” I replied.

“Does your family own the curse that befell this pond?” he asked.

I furrowed my eyebrows.

“I'm called Odet,” he told me. “And at night, I'm as you see me, but the rest of the time… I'm transformed."

“Transformed?” I asked, still looking him up and down. “Into what?”

He smiled a pained smile and turned away from me, his long, red hair falling behind his shoulder.

I watched him as he walked over to Gesund, who was always wary of strangers but seemed to love the attention of Odet.

“Have ever heard of the-”

“The Curse of the Swan,” I interrupted.

Odet nodded, still stroking Gesund's face.

“I refused to marry Odile von Rothbart. Sorceress von Rothbart cursed me for making a fool of her family,” he told me, looking over his back to where I was standing.

“You're a prince,” I said.

“I /was/. I was the Rothbart's way to nobility,” he replied. “She punished me for snatching away her opportunity. Her family was made a fool of when I called off our engagement."

"And she cursed you to live your life as a swan," I finished, "Only turning back at sunset, until you find your true love."

"Or agree to marry to Odile," he replied. "I've been gone for so long I've been presumed dead. Without my inheritance of the throne, my kingdom, my people are lost. And Odile's mother has been fighting over the throne on behalf of her.”

"But... that was just a story," I asserted. "It's a tale that mothers tell their children to quiet them at night."

"Bold of you to seem to sure of yourself when the evidence stands in front of you," Odet chuckled, walking away from Gesund. "No need for me to fret over it; I know it to be true."

"I'm sorry," I called after him, making him turn towards me. "I meant nothing wrong. See, I'm having issues of my own."

"Oh?" Odet crossed his arms and stayed firmly where he stood.

"Four maidens. I need to pick from four maidens to be wed to," I said. "It's an impossible decision."

"Really? I'd have you pegged as a man who'd have no issue in tossing aside women," he scoffed.

I crossed my arms and stared at a marigold in the grass.

"As I thought," Odet turned to walk away again and I stared after him, feeling my stomach drop.

"The issue is..." I swallowed my spit though my mouth ran dry.

He turned again and glared sharply in my direction.

"The issue is that I'm not interested in the likes of women," I shouted.

Odet's glare softened into a look of surprise. He gripped his arm and stared at a white feather that floated down from a tree.

"I'm afraid I feel the same way, Sir Siegfried," he replied.

I looked at him in awe and his sharp features softened into a smile.

"I want to show you something," he said.


End file.
